”Rest your
fingers lightly but firmly on the SUPERTABLE, allowing it
freely to move over the board in all directions. The two
people should maintain a continuous contact with the
SUPERTABLE, and the SUPERTABLE should be in constant
touch with the OUIJA QUEEN. If you fail to get results in
playing the board, it is at no time the fault of the
board. It is merely that the so-called Psychic force is
undeveloped in the operators. We make no claims of
scientific or supernatural qualities.”

The early 1940's
brought a remarkable proliferation of talking boards as
manufacturers flooded the market with colorful and unique
designs. We can't say why this happened with any
certainty. One thought is that Ouija boards sell better
during times of war because people are looking for hope
and answers. Desperation turns people towards religion
and the supernatural and faith based solutions. Another
answer is that it may have been a wartime fad with the
forties generation discovering Ouija boards for the first
time. Maybe it was a combination of both the war and the
fad. Whatever the reasons, the companies are long gone
having only lasted for a few years and there is no one
left to ask. Occasionally, we get lucky. This is the
story of American Novelty Company.

We know little
about James Acuff except for his vision. He created a new
Ouija board and he believed it was good enough to market
nationally. There were already Ouija boards on the market
but there was always room for one more, particularly if
the price was right. Acuff called his board the Ouija
Queen and the layout was much like any other Ouija board.
There was the sun and the moon, the words YES and NO and
AU REVOIR, and a sprinkling of stars in the corners. AU
REVOIR instead of GOOD-BYE might have been a nice touch
except that the JM Simmons Company had been using it on a
Ouija board since 1918. And when it came to Ouija boards,
leading manufacturer William Fuld absolutely dominated
the American scene. James Acuff had a vision but it
wasn't very original and it certainly wasn't timely
considering the wartime shortage of wood. Acuff was also
hugely underfunded. Had he consulted his Ouija Queen, the
response might have been, “Conditions poor. Try
again later.”

Isadore Chapman of
Omaha, Nebraska, had a reputation for honesty, integrity,
and fair business dealings. As a partner of Iowa Finance
Company, it was his job to find ways to make money during
the country's wartime crisis. He faced formidable
obstacles, as did many business leaders of his era. His
main workforce was at battle leaving the company woefully
understaffed. To add to his problems, one of his partners
was in the service and the other was recovering from an
illness. Chapman wisely decided to expand the personal
loan program to include businesses to help keep Iowa
Finance afloat. That was a lucky opportunity for James
Acuff who desperately needed a business loan for his
Ouija Queen enterprise. This need brought the two men
together. But Acuff was more the visionary than a
businessperson. We don't know the exact amount but we do
know this: the loan money from Iowa Finance was gone
within a year and Acuff had nothing to show for it. The
Ouija Queen had died and that left Isadore Chapman
responsible for her burial, or perhaps, her resurrection.
With little choice, Chapman elected to take over the
rights and to go into the Ouija board business. Although
there was no obligation, he promised to pay Acuff
royalties if the Ouija Queen returned a profit and after
the loan was satisfied.

Chapman may
have known little about Ouija boards but he knew much
about business. On August 24, 1943, he incorporated the
American Novelty Company in the state of Nebraska solely
to represent the Ouija Queen. He chose a small South
Omaha manufacturing plant, uninvolved in the war effort,
to make his boards. Instead of wood, he picked a cheaper
composition material. Before long, production was in full
force. Chapman used wholesalers to nationally distribute
his Ouija board and he landed large contracts with giant
department store chains Montgomery Ward and Spiegel. His
price to dealers was half of what William Fuld was
charging. But all was not rosy. At first, Montgomery Ward
wouldn't consider American Novelty because it hadn't
existed long enough to establish credit and might not be
able to sustain large orders. That it was Iowa Finance's
sister company didn't matter. But Chapman worked this to
his advantage. He offered an arrangement whereby he would
ship cash-on-delivery to each of the Montgomery Ward
stores. This was a direct benefit to the company in time
and money because the boards didn't have to go to Ward's
central Chicago warehouse first for distribution to
individual outlets. By so doing, Chapman could deliver
his product earlier than promised and know, by the
individual orders, exactly the consumer demand for the
boards. Plus, payment through C.O.D. was much faster than
payment through central headquarters. The retail price to
a Montgomery Ward customer was ninety-eight cents. Sales
were very good.

Although it was a great
success, American Novelty ended production of the Ouija
Queen after the war. The company continued until 1950
with various Halloween products, small stone figurines,
and statuettes, but none approached the success of the
Ouija Queen. During production, there were two Ouija
Queen models: a brown and yellow themed board and a
multicolored blue, yellow and red board (see pictures).
Many survive because of the large production runs and can
be found in antique stores, second hand shops and online
on eBay.

After American Novelty
Company, Isadore Chapman was able to devote his full time
to the finance business, which he considered his real
calling. Ouija Queen creator James Acuff received his
promised royalties and produced a look-alike board called
the Ouija Genii with Boland Manufacturing Company of
Winona, Minnesota. Iowa Finance Company became a
subsidiary of AVCO Corporation in 1965.

Many thanks to Lawrence
Chapman, the son of Isadore Chapman, and Evelyn Bundy
Hill of Iowa Finance Company and American Novelty Company
for a wonderful contribution to the Museum of Talking
Boards.